Detectable Signature of Quantum Friction on a Sliding Particle in Vacuum

FERNANDO C LOMBARDO; RICARDO S. DECCA; LUDMILA VIOTTI,; PAULA I. VILLAR

Advanced Quantum Technology

John Wiley & Sons

Lugar: New Jersey; Año: 2021 vol. 155 p. 1 - 9

Spatially separated bodies in a relative motion through vacuum experience atiny friction force known as quantum friction (QF). This force has so fareluded experimental detection due to its small magnitude and short range.Quantitative details revealing traces of the QF in the degradation of thequantum coherence of a particle are presented. Environmentally induceddecoherence for a particle sliding over a dielectric sheet can be decomposedinto contributions of different signatures: one solely induced by theelectromagnetic vacuum in the presence of the dielectric and another inducedby motion. As the geometric phase (GP) has been proved to be a fruitfulvenue of investigation to infer features of the quantum systems, herein it isproposed to use the accumulated GP acquired by a particle as a QF sensor.Furthermore, an innovative experiment designed to track traces of QF bymeasuring the velocity dependence of corrections to the GP and coherence isproposed. The experimentally viable scheme presented can spark renewedoptimism for the detection of non-contact friction, with the hope that thisnon-equilibrium phenomenon can be readily measured soon.